Program:
Memphis Workers' Center
- Budget:
-
$70,000
- Category:
-
Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy
- Population Served:
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Immigrants/Newcomers/Refugees
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Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
The Memphis Workers' Center educates low-wage immigrant and native-born workers about their workplaces rights, and organizes workers to improve their working conditions, including recover unpaid wages and workers' compensation payments owed by their employers.
Program Long-Term Success:
Long term, the Memphis Workers' Center hopes to organize groups of worker members to win living wages from their employers and ensure that employers follow all wage, health and safety, and discrimination laws. Our long-term goal is to ensure that all low-wage workers are treated with justice and respect, regardless of their race, gender, or immigration status.
Program Short-Term Success:
Short-term goals include:
1) Ensuring that workers receiving training on their rights understand and can articulate to other workers rights to minimum wage and overtime, how to address unsafe working conditions, workers compensation, and what constitutes workplace discrimination.
2) Recovering unpaid wages owed to workers because employers have paid below minimum wage, have not paid overtime, stolen tips from workers, or have not paid workers at all.
Program Success Monitored by:
All worker members are encouraged to participate in a bi-monthly Workers' Assembly, which makes decisions about activities of the Memphis Workers' Center, and which evaluates the success of its program. In 2011, a worker-led steering committee will be formed for the Workers' Center, and will share greater decision-making and evaluation authority with staff than in the past.
Program Success Examples:
From January 2008-December 2010, the Memphis Workers' Center has partnered with 43 workers to recover more than $177,000 in unpaid wages, workers compensation, and discrimination remedies.
In 2010, the Workers' Center provided an in-depth, two-day safety and health training to 30 immigrant construction workers. These workers learned life-saving skills and obtained a 10 Hour Health and Safety certification from OSHA.
Program:
Right to Organize and Public Policy
- Budget:
-
$50,000
- Category:
-
Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy
- Population Served:
-
Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
This program engages people of faith, community allies, and low-wage workers in campaigns that either: 1) support the right of workers at specific workplaces to organize for better working conditions or 2) will result in local, state, or national public policies that improve wages and working conditions for low-wage workers.
Program Long-Term Success:
Long term success is defined as 1) ensuring that workers can exercise their right to organize without fear of retaliation from their employers.
2) having public policies in place at local, state, and federal levels that guarantee workers' living wages and safe working conditions, and which adequately investigate and punish employers who steal wages from workers, cause unsafe working conditions, engage in racial and gender discrimination, and attempt to stop workers from organizing.
Program Short-Term Success:
1) Enabling workers to win first contracts that improve working conditions and give workers a voice in workplace decisions that deeply affect their lives.
2) Passing a federal Stop Wage Theft bill which increases the Department of Labor's resources to fight wage theft.
3) Developing a local ordinance that equips local government to address workers' wage theft claims.
Program Success Monitored by:
People of faith, community members, and workers who are leaders in these campaigns meet periodically (in most cases, on a monthly basis) with WIN staff to evaluate whether specific objectives have been met, and what campaign tactics will be more effective in winning public policies and supporting workers' right to organize.
Program Success Examples:
1) Education and organizing by WIN's members led both the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission to pass living wage ordinances that guarantee livable wages to municipal workers and workers on municipal contracts.
2) Organizing support from the faith community led by WIN helped workers win a first contract at the Fred's warehouse in Memphis that led to improved wages and benefits, as well as consistent procedures for discipline and dismissal of workers.
Program:
Living wage organizing
- Budget:
-
$30,000
- Category:
-
Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
Program Description:
WIN's living wage organizing brings together workers, people of faith, and community groups to advocate with specific employers for wages that bring workers out of poverty. Currently, WIN's living wage campaign is focused on workers at the University of Memphis.
Program Long-Term Success:
Long term, our goal is for every worker in Memphis to be able to provide for their basic needs without having to work more than one full-time job or rely on assistance from family or government.
Program Short-Term Success:
Our current short-term goal is to win a living wage of at least $11.62 an hour for all workers at the University of Memphis.
Program Success Monitored by:
WIN staff and board regularly evaluate the effectiveness of our living wage organizing and how it can be improved. We also carry out evaluation with our coalition partners, the United Campus Workers and the Progressive Student Alliance.
Program Success Examples:
Living wage organizing by WIN's members led to the passage of our state's first living wage ordinance by the Memphis City Council, covering city workers and private city contractors, in 2006. In 2007, the Shelby County Commission passed a similar ordinance, and the City Council expanded its living wage ordinance in 2008 to cover more workers.